Semi-final

Bjorkman ready for Roger and out

The biggest obstacle to Roger Federer reaching the final for a fourth successive time today is probably himself. Not that the champion takes things for granted, but never has he approached the later stages here as such an overwhelming favourite.

From the beginning Federer's performances have been uniquely authoritative - he has reached the semis for the first time without dropping a set, and his Open era record of consecutive grass-court wins has risen to 46. Now he finds himself facing the most startling of survivors - Jonas Bjorkman, a 34-year-old former Wimbledon doubles champion, who many thought had relinquished serious ambitions at singles and whose self-hugging celebrations after beating Radek Stepanek on Wednesday suggested this semi-final was the limit of his realistic ambitions.

Federer will fight against similar thoughts. "I'm obviously a big favourite," he agreed, "But he has an all-round game, likes to come to the net and on grass it can be very tricky." Rays of hope for Bjorkman? He has five more grass-court victories than Federer, albeit in a much longer career. He has twice beaten world No1s, and he has nothing to lose. But while there might an injury or a thunderbolt, the bookies still rate Bjorkman at 100-1 for the title.